Brazilian Literature
Brazilian literature is wide category that generally incorporates all literature written in the Portuguese language either by Brazilians or in Brazil. This category also includes literature of this sort that was written before Brazil declared independence from Portugal in 1822. Through out the twentieth century, Brazilian literature has made a definite shift, and the use of Portuguese in Brazilian literature has become far more literary.
The first document that can possibly be considered Brazilian literature is Carta de Pero Vaz de Caminha, which translates to Pero Vaz de Caminha’s Letter. It was written by Pero Vaz de Caminha in 1500 to Manuel I of Portugal and contains a detail description of what Brazil looked like in that era. There are several other examples of literary work that have survived the colonial period, like Jose Basilio da Gama’s epic poem that celebrates the conquest of the Missions by the Portuguese. Through out the mid eighteenth century, neoclassicism was widespread, much like the Italian style.
The neoclassicism trend actually lasted for a remarkably long time, which stifled innovation and restricted literary creation. Around 1836, Romanticism began to influence poetry, and one of the primary examples is the poet Domingos Jose Goncalves de Magalhaes. This period produced a lot of works that are considered standard Brazilian literature.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, romanticism began to decline another transformation occurred and a new form of writing emerged, called naturalism. This style included an analysis of the indigenous people and a description of the environment. Some famous Brazilian naturalist writers include Emile Zola and Aluisio Azevedo. Realism also entered the scene of Brazilian literature and while it was not terribly original at first, but it began to take on extraordinary importance as Machado de Assis and Euclides da Cunha introduced their work.
Between 1895 and 1922, Brazilian literature entered a Pre-Modernism era because there was no clear predominance of any style though there were some early manifestations of Modernism. Authors of this time included Monteiro Lobato, Simoes Lopes Neto, and Lima Barreto and they were already beginning to show a distinctly modern character.
When the Week of Modern Art festival came to Brazil of 1922, it also ushered in an era of Modernism in Brazilian literature. Writers like Mario de Andrade, Manuel Bandeira, Cassiano Ricardo, and Oswald de Andrade became known as the 1922 Generation. Movements like the European surrealism movement also began to explode in Brazil during this period.
Contemporary Brazilian literature has become much more focused on city life and its aspects, even those less attractive, like loneliness, political issues, violence, and media control. Rubem Fonseca and Sergio Sant’Anna wrote important books with these themes in the 1970s. The literature until that point dealt mostly with rural life. Today, some of the most acclaimed literary figures in Brazil are poets like Manoel de Barros and Ferreira Gullar, who has been nominated for a Novel Prize.
Literature is an excellent way to examine the extremely diverse culture of Brazil.